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Mines a 2ghz core2 duo with an ati radeon hd2600 pro mobile. No slouch in its time but it's time is not now.

I have Pinball FX2 running on just such a laptop as well as on an Intel Series 4 gfx laptop. Both work fine at 1280x800 provided you enable the lower quality graphics mode. This cuts out features like ball reflections, advanced lighting, transparencies etc (On Mars, the table walls are solid like the original ZP rather than the transparent versions on ZP2).

In response to Nik Barbour, Pinball FX2 on Win8 is actually visually superior to the PS3 version. I did a side by side comparison of the Mars table in High Quality Mode on my desktop and there was a noticable difference in texture quality on the Mars table (see background starfield) not to mention the boost in resolution. Transparencies are a weakness on the PS3 and so the sides of the Mars table look blocky compared to the Win8 version too.

Where I did sense a difference, and this is entirely subjective, is the physics, that seems ever so slightly dulled on the Win8 release.

Zen have also confirmed that they are in talks with Steam about getting a Win7 verison on there in the near future. They have said that it will have more advance graphical options to take better advantage of powerful PCs along with universal scoreboards and steam integration.

Where I did sense a difference, and this is entirely subjective, is the physics, that seems ever so slightly dulled on the Win8 release.

I've never thought physics has ever been a strong point of Pinball FX2/Zen Pinball 2. The game is cool and all. But it doesn't feel like pinball. It's way too easy to do things like trap the ball. The ball movement is way too predictable and controllable in the video pinball. The game is actually much easier than real pinball.

I don't have the same tables between the PC and the Xbox because I don't like to repeat-buy so i can't do a direct comparison (well, I guess I could go off of demos) but they don't seem different at all. Using the exact same controller on both (just resync it to the PC and then back to the 360).

Why is this forum so dead? Where is TPA for the Surface RT? I just talked my pops into ditching his Nexus 10 for a Surface RT tablet, and now he wants to know why the only pinball he sees in the store is Pinball FX2! (Okay maybe it's me that wants to know.)

And before anybody tells me I was crazy for suggesting he make that switch (or that he was crazy for listening to me) save your breath. The Nexus 10 is an amazing achievement (and will clearly render TPA better) but the Surface is in an altogether different league when it comes to both web surfing and basic productivity tasks. People who knock it simply don't know it.

Not true... definitely use win8pro on my desktop gaming rig and prefer not to install steam just for this. Win8 on all my desktop PC's in fact, not just my phones (wp8), tablets(rt & pro) and laptops (pro)
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Well that's up to you, if you want to use Steam or not.
But, as far as I know, the upcoming win8 marketplace version will be a light version for mobile
devices. That means. reduced graphics, lighting, physics ...
The real, advanced PC version will come out on Steam only.

Well that's up to you, if you want to use Steam or not.
But, as far as I know, the upcoming win8 marketplace version will be a light version for mobile
devices. That means. reduced graphics, lighting, physics ...
The real, advanced PC version will come out on Steam only.

Well in the first audio interview. Bobby just calls it a Windows 8 app. To me, "app" doesn't sound like a full PC game.
But of course, I could be wrong.

More importantly, they wrote this in the Newsletter 12.5:

Playable on all devices... sounds like a light version ...

(maybe worth the mention, the mac version on the apple store is also just a light version)

I'll go ahead and stop you there. Windows 8 has "apps" now because it's also made for Microsoft surfaces. These are full applications that are simply "Metro" friendly and are available directly from the Windows Store making them easier to install on a surface. They don't suffer in any way due to this convenience unless the developer chooses to make it so. Zen Pinball came out with a Metro version of their game at the launch of Windows 8, and it arguably looks better than it has on any other platform to date.

What you're thinking of is a "port". If Farsight chooses to make the Windows Phone the lead platform and doesn't scale it up for desktop GPU's..then yes the game may suffer in quality. However this is totally up to Farsight. On the Mac they chose to do a lazy port and didn't take full advantage of the desktop hardware. Point being this is a choice, not a requirement.

Well that's up to you, if you want to use Steam or not.
But, as far as I know, the upcoming win8 marketplace version will be a light version for mobile
devices. That means. reduced graphics, lighting, physics ...
The real, advanced PC version will come out on Steam only.

Correct me, if I'm wrong.

Biff, this is a completely idiotic post with no merit. at least have some facts before making a post like this. it just comes off as completely fanboyish. only fanboys have to make up stuff to get people to get the Steam version.

PS! Man, do I wish the moderators would just ban the word "Fanboy" from this forum. Drives me bonkers every time I see it.

I've already been thinking about this and will be going over this very subject with Gord, Jeff and Sean. I'm getting really tired of seeing posts where certain members are name calling, whether it be directed towards a specific member, group of members or in generalization. Let this be a warning that we will be cracking down on this sort of behavior as it has no place on this forum.

Biff, this is a completely idiotic post with no merit. at least have some facts before making a post like this. it just comes off as completely fanboyish. only fanboys have to make up stuff to get people to get the Steam version.

Perhaps all these things are true, but even if they are, that still does not give you the right to start attacking him. Speculation, even probably-incorrect speculation, is allowed here. Otherwise, some of the forum sections would be very sparse indeed. We have special threads and areas dedicated to presenting only solid "official" information; Pin Wiz does a fine job of maintaining these areas. In other areas, members must expect to find speculation and opinion, and to make up their own minds about what they read.

If you really think a post is harmful and should be removed or otherwise dealt with, there's a Report Post button for this very reason; please use it.

Originally Posted by PiN WiZ

I've already been thinking about this and will be going over this very subject with Gord, Jeff and Sean. I'm getting really tired of seeing posts where certain members are name calling, whether it be directed towards a specific member, group of members or in generalization. Let this be a warning that we will be cracking down on this sort of behavior as it has no place on this forum.

Agreed, the invaders are getting out of hand again.

See the Lost in the Zone blog for my high score list, as well as more opinion, commentary, and observations on both physical and virtual pinball.

only fanboys have to make up stuff to get people to get the Steam version.

The funny thing is, I told Farsight 3 or 4 times in another thread, that they should talk to EA to release their game on Origin ...
I ain't happy with a couple of decisions that Valve, Microsoft and EA take, but I still use their products ...

Originally Posted by Frostyglitch

I'll go ahead and stop you there....

Aye, thanks for clarifying. I still have win7. Don't know much about win8. But win8 is also a operating system for mobile devices, right?
So I thought, they use the store to make their game available to all the customers who have a mobile device that runs win8.

This is from the newsletter: "This version will be playable on all devices and desktops".
This includes phones. Guys, we're talking about phones. Have you ever seen a full PC Game on a phone or weak tablet (not saying that all win8 tablets are weak)?
I don't think customers with mobile devices have to go through all the settings and have to lower the quality to make
it playable on their device. As I mentioned on page 2, maybe they release two versions on the store. Like they do it on the PSN (Vita & PS3).
But the one version that they submitted to MS so far, seems to be a light version.

Aye, thanks for clarifying. I still have win7. Don't know much about win8. But win8 is also a operating system for mobile devices, right?
So I thought, they use the store to make their game available to all the customers who have a mobile device that runs win8.

This is from the newsletter: "This version will be playable on all devices and desktops".
This includes phones. Guys, we're talking about phones. Have you ever seen a full PC Game on a phone or weak tablet (not saying that all win8 tablets are weak)?
I don't think customers with mobile devices have to go through all the settings and have to lower the quality to make
it playable on their device. As I mentioned on page 2, maybe they release two versions on the store. Like they do it on the PSN (Vita & PS3).
But the one version that they submitted to MS so far, seems to be a light version.

Glad to help out where I can. I frequent the Google plus page more than here these days, as I'm a contributor there.

Like I said before, I was quite blown by how great Zen looks in 1080p and it shares the Windows marketplace with phones/tablets. So yeah, I have no reason to believe that things will be any different for the Pinball Arcade. It's quite possible they may leave out anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing, as that's what Farsight did on the Mac. I understand Zen is looking to join the ranks of Steam as well, so we'll see if it looks any better for them. I discovered a benefit today that may sway a few people to decide to buy through the Windows Store if they already have Win8. With Steam you can only have one instance of your account up at any given time, this isn't the case with Windows store games. So my wife can be playing pinball games on the laptop, at the same time I can login to that account and play the same tables from my desktop.

I'm not biased or anything though by any stretch. I currently own nearly 300 games on Steam. I'll likely end up buying all the tables from both marketplaces and report my results for everyone.

Aye, thanks for clarifying. I still have win7. Don't know much about win8. But win8 is also a operating system for mobile devices, right?
So I thought, they use the store to make their game available to all the customers who have a mobile device that runs win8.

This is from the newsletter: "This version will be playable on all devices and desktops".

Windows 8 is Windows 8 for laptops, desktops, and tablets. completely different operating systems and completely unrelated. The marketplace for Windows Phone is not the same as the marketplace for Windows 8/RT.

In fact, you have to purchase whatever software twice if you want to buy them in both marketplaces and they are incompatible with each other since they're designed for different architectures.

Windows Phone 8, windows RT, and windows 8 pro are all based on the same core OS. (you're next xbox!) As a developer native c++ or .net code can be reused across all 3 with only minor consideration for screen real estate, inputs/controls etc that vary between device form factors. Performance scalability is required even if you write for just one major hardware category such as desktop PC due to the vast variations in capabilities.

The store is still different between windows phone and rt/pro, but the platform merge continues...
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yes, the same core. but that doesn't mean cross-compatibility. you can reuse some code but you still have to program for the platform in question.

there's rumors that in the future, it will be a phone that runs windows 8, and that windows phone 8 as an operating system will go away but that's still quite a bit away and may never happen if the windows phone team has anything to say about it (just for the fact that mobile hardware is not powerful enough.

I was just wondering if anyone has any information on what is going to happen with Windows 8 and TPA. I would rather buy from Microsoft than setting up another account for Steam.

I just got a new Win 8 computer and really love the interface. Very easy for me to learn - though I've wished all my life to live in the George Jetson era where you push buttons to get things done and this is pretty close.